Elves

  Elves are a race of people originating from another Iterum. They are generally tall and slender, and they commonly have long, pointed ears. They are long-lived, often living around five hundred years. Many elves have innate magical talents.   A particularly adaptive people, young elves gain special abilities and skills based on their childhood environment. For example, an elf child who was born underground would gain especially sensitive sight, gaining the ability to see in the dark without a source of light. This quick generational adaptiveness allows for elves to live in a vast variety of environments.   Elves arrived on Essaria in 218 BE as they fled the destruction of their world. Only a hundred thousand or so managed to escape through the magical portal that connected the two Iterums for a matter of an hour. During this time, many horrors also crossed over into Essaria, many of which persist to this day, hungering for elven flesh. The portal deposited them in Barisea, where many integrated into society. Others, who mistrusted humans, retreated into the Virdare Forest and established refugee societies of their own. Many wandered even farther abroad in the world.   Today, even human Bariseans likely have a bit of elvish blood. Full half-elves are common in the region, but are a somewhat rarer sight elsewhere.